DORCHESTER – Over the past six years, the number of vehicle thefts have declined in District C-11 and in Boston overall.
From Jan. 2002 to Dec. 2007, there was a 57 percent drop in vehicle thefts in District C-11, according to police reports. In the same time, there was a 52 percent decrease for the entire city.
“Car thieves are usually caught in the act,” said Sergeant John Daly, a District C-11 community service officer. “When [police] follow a car, they know right away whether or not it’s been stolen.”
The increasing sophistication of police technology may be deterring auto theft, Daly said. Before computers, police used a "hot sheet,” which listed all stolen vehicles. The hot sheet took hours to update and transmit to investigators. Now, when following a suspicious vehicle, police can run the plates immediately.
“It is very infrequent that someone steals a car and we have a
suspect we must pursue,” said Sergeant Dan Conboy, the District C-11 auto investigator. “If they’re stopped by the police, they’re boxed in and arrested.”Conboy investigates crashes and helps in the prosecution of civil infractions. He has handled many cases involving stolen vehicles. It is common for car thieves to smash into someone’s car for retribution, he said. “Usually, in these instances, they are long gone when police arrive,” he said.
Daly speculates theft rates have gone down due to insurance companies wising up.
“When I first started, people would torch the car, [claim it as stolen], and would just get the insurance check,” Daly said. “Now, the insurance companies will do an investigation and they are reluctant to pay people off.”
Insurance company investigations have influenced the police report filing process. When reporting a stolen vehicle, victims must sign a statement that can be used against them as perjury if the investigation reveals them to be guilty of fraud.
A major concern of the mayor’s office and the BPD is motor vehicle larceny, more so than vehicle theft, due to the growing popularity of global positioning devices and iPods.
In District C-11, between 2005 and 2007, there was an 18.8 percent increase in larceny offenses, according to police reports. In Boston, larceny has increased over the past three years by 8.3 percent.
Organizations such as the Safe Neighborhood Initiative, a federally funded program consisting of members from the Boston police department, city agencies, representatives from the attorney general’s office and other community groups, work together to inform members of the community about pressing issues.
“The Safe Neighborhood Initiative has definitely had a positive effect on reducing crime,” Daly said.
Paul Heithaus, program coordinator of the Bowdoin-Geneva Safe Neighborhood Initiative, said the purpose of the coalition is to improve the quality of life in District C-11. Once a month, the SNI meets to discuss problems they hope will prevent crime by raising awareness. He is proud to hear that auto thefts have fallen, but cannot attribute this directly to the action of the Safe Neighborhood Initiative.